


Unconventional

by Blizzard96



Category: A.C.E (Beat Interactive Band)
Genre: Gen, Hybrids, but like weird hybrids
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-06
Updated: 2019-10-12
Packaged: 2020-04-11 21:51:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19118386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blizzard96/pseuds/Blizzard96
Summary: Donghun's lived his whole life with his hybridity working against him. Maybe now, however, he's finally found something to sink his teeth into.AKA the Hybrid AU without a cute and cuddly animal in sight





	1. First Bite

_Donghun, age four, clung to Mrs. Jung’s leg. He was definitely not crying, though his eyes were starting to feel hot and itchy. His caretaker was speaking very angrily with his teacher, though both of their voices were low enough to not agitate the other children still in the classroom waiting for their parents to pick them up. Donghun had given up on listening to the conversation between the two adults a few minutes beforehand._

_He looked around the room. The girl who had built a tower with him just a few days ago flinched back when they made eye contact, turning to giggle nervously with her friends. They all whispered together, eyes darting to where Donghun was. The boy cat hybrid who he’d played basketball with that afternoon was avoiding his eyes, and doing a bad job of hiding it with his pointy white ears twitching and giving him away. Donghun dropped his gaze in shame, wondering what he’d done to make everyone hate him so much._

_Mrs. Jung finally made a noise of exasperation, grabbing Donghun’s hand and leading him down the school’s corridors and outside to their silver car. Donghun climbed into the backseat and his caretaker buckled him in, all the while muttering under her breath._

_She tossed around a few “Don’t know what kind of establishment they think they're running, honestly!”s and “We’ll be talking with the school board, I promise you that.”  The tense seconds between filled with silence._

_“Mrs. Jung,” Donghun said, finally finding his voice. He shrunk in on himself as the woman straightened in her seat._  
  
“ _Yes, dear?”_

_“Why are the other kids scared of me?”_

_There was a long pause. Donghun felt his heart dropping with each passing second._

_“They don’t know you,” she said carefully, “Because if they did, they would know you are the kindest, smartest boy in the whole world, and that you would never hurt anyone.”_

_Donghun squirmed. “Stop it!” he protested, embarrassed. Mrs. Jung laughed, high and carefree._

_“You are!”_

_“No!”_

_“Yes! You’re a beautiful, wonderful boy, and you are loved very, very much!”_

_Donghun found himself smiling widely and eventually gave into his giggles despite his efforts to remain expressionless, all previous thoughts of the nervous stares he had received from his classmates forgotten. Then he felt his one of his teeth wiggle when he poked it with his tongue._

_“Mrs. Jung?”_

_“Yes?”_

_“I lost another tooth.” He reached up into his mouth and pulled the loose tooth out with his hand, careful to avoid cutting his finger on any of the others. He held the tooth in his small hand, waiting for her to reach the next red stoplight. Once the car had stopped, his caretaker popped open the glove box and reached back through the seats._  
  
“Make a wish,” she said with a smile. Donghun squeezed his eyes shut.

_‘I wish I could find some friends like me,’ he thought desperately._

_“Give it here,” she said once he’d reopened them. He dropped the tooth into her palm. She placed it into a mason jar kept in the glove box specifically for that reason. It made a light tinkling sound as it hit the bottom and began to rattle around with the others._

 

* * *

 

“ _Feeling lonely?”_ Asked an ad on the subway, “ _Adopt a hybrid! Studies show that those with hybrids can gain many benefits such as reduced stress levels, increased energy, and even longer life spans! Check your local shelter to pick up your new friend today!”_

Donghun tried not to snort at the bright and cheery advertisement, which featured a generic looking family and a dog hybrid with floppy ears and golden fur. It was clearly out of touch. Nowadays many hybrids had begun entering the workforce and had their own career prospects rather than just waiting around in an adoption home all day, praying that some rich, well-meaning family would adopt them. He had nothing against the various hybrids that wanted that life, but that kind of thing had never been an option for Donghun. Being born a hybrid was really a roll of the dice, and unfortunately Donghun had come up with snake eyes.

The hybrids most likely to be adopted were cats, dogs, and bunnies, followed by any similarly fuzzy or cuddly animals, and then birds. All the other hybrids fell by the wayside. There were very few, aside from collectors, who would purchase a hybrid that wasn’t a domesticated pet hybrid (and collectors were usually nasty people). In addition, the chance of a hybrid being adopted went down exponentially with each passing year.

Donghun himself had grown up in a hybrid adoption facility called Open Hearts Adoption Home. He was lucky that his facility was incredibly nice and well-equipped for all kinds of hybrids. The main caretaker and head of the establishment, Mrs. Jung, had run the facility with a relatively small staff and an assortment of volunteers. When he’d been much younger, he’d believed she was his mother until he was old enough for her to gently explain the situation. The fact that they weren’t blood related never mattered, though, and he still thought of the woman as his mother. He sent portions of his paychecks back to her every month and even tried to visit on the holidays if he could manage to get away from work.

Unfortunately, his luck had run out after that. Donghun had lived at the facility for eighteen years, never once being considered for adoption. His hybridity was so (as Mrs. Jung would call it) “unique”, that most considered him too difficult to adopt. He’d watched families come and go from the comfort of his room, some pausing to look in through the viewing window with expressions ranging from morbid fascination to horror after reading the informational card posted to his door. Donghun became used to these looks.

At age eighteen, when he was legally not allowed to stay at the facility for any longer, Donghun had left in search of work. Mrs. Jung, kind as ever, had offered him a job at Open Hearts, but Donghun had declined and gone in search of employment elsewhere. He’d always made pretty good grades in school, and he eventually managed to land a fairly low level job at a software company.

Though technically companies weren’t allowed to discriminate against hybrids in their employment, Donghun had faced enough side eyes and snarky comments in his school days to not have high hopes for the workplace. When he’d found a company that hadn’t asked for his Hybrid ID in its application forms, he’d latched on immediately. Donghun could hide his hybridity fairly well for the most part, as long as he was careful. The work at the company was tedious but not difficult, and he managed to get through his days by keeping his head down and saying as little to his co-workers as possible. He was sure he wouldn’t be winning any office popularity contests anytime soon, but the last thing he needed was to open his mouth and subsequently lose his job.

For these reasons, Donghun found a mixture of exasperation and regret swirling inside him when he looked at the dimly lit ad for hybrid adoption. It made everything seem so simple, like hybrids got adopted everyday. It was far from the truth. Even domestic hybrids weren’t guaranteed adoption, and many ended up in low-paying jobs or on the streets.

The subway car stopped suddenly, jolting Donghun out of his thoughts. He straightened up and released the dangling handle he’d been holding onto, rushing out of the doors with the crush of other people. He kept a steady pace toward the exit, trying hard not to be jostled by others. He just wanted to stop by the corner sushi shop two blocks from his apartment to pick up some rolls and then scarf them down in front of the television. His life wasn’t particularly exciting or glamorous, but it was probably the best thing a hybrid like him could hope for.

Donghun had finally gotten up the escalator and was starting out of the station when he heard someone yelling. At first he almost ignored it, there was no shortage of people attempting to sell products or raise donations for some organization or another, when he caught a few stray words that the voice was saying.

“–need to start thinking about unconventional hybrids!” the voice said. Donghun stopped dead in his tracks in the middle of the sidewalk, causing the woman behind him to run into his back.

“Sorry,” he muttered as the woman wove around him with a dirty look. He decided to step out of the flow of traffic before he was run over by others trying to get home. Once he was safely on the edge of the sidewalk, Donghun looked over to where the voice had been coming from to see two men, younger than him based on their appearances, holding signs and standing next to a bucket that he assumed was for donations. The taller of the two was dressed strangely, wearing a navy blue scarf despite it being the beginning of summer. The shorter one was yelling and trying to get the attention of apathetic passerby.

Their signs read _Advocates for Unconventional Hybrids_.

Upon closer inspection when Donghun squinted, the taller had patchy, sandy colored scales around his eyes. The eyes themselves were golden and slit pupil, which led Donghun to speculate that the other was probably a snake or lizard hybrid. The shorter man was a lot more eye-catching, especially when he turned to speak lowly with the reptilian hybrid. A bright, rainbow colored segmented shell shone down the length of his back and on the backs of his arms. Donghun sucked in a breath when he saw a red triangle sticker stuck dead center on the top segment.

Red triangles were used to denote that the hybrid was a dangerous species. This had led to a number of protests from hybrid rights groups in the past, but there was yet to be any legislation banning the markers. Donghun was intimately familiar with the stickers as he had a sheet of them at home in his sock drawer, a pack of thirty one (one for every day), that arrived by mail like clockwork on the first of every month. If anyone found out he wasn’t wearing the stickers, Donghun could face serious fines and even jail time.

Apparently, other pedestrians had seen the man’s sticker as well and gave him a wide berth, like he might suddenly lunge at them. As if those the government deemed dangerous were suddenly feral and beyond reasoning. Donghun’s stomach clenched, and he made up his mind. He walked over to the two men.

The shorter one brightened at his approach. “Hello!” He said cheerily. The other offered an awkward nod. “I’m Byeongkwan, and this is Jun! We’re part of the Advocates for Unconventional Hybrids. Have you heard of us?”

Donghun shook his head. “Not really.”

Undeterred, Byeongkwan continued, “We raise recognition for uncommon hybrid species. Did you know that cat, dog, hamster, bird, and rabbit hybrids make up 90% of all hybrid adoptions despite being less than half of the hybrid population?”

“Uh, no I didn’t.”

“It’s true! Many hybrids get passed up for adoptions and even workplace opportunities just because they are an unconventional species,” Byeongkwan said. “Like me! I’m a mantis shrimp hybrid.” Well, that explained the danger sticker, Donghun thought.

“But aren’t you dangerous?” Donghun blurted without thinking, his mind already going back to his time at school when other kids would practically glue themselves to the other side of the hallway whenever they walked past him or would refuse to partner with him unless forced. Many of them acted like Donghun should be locked up for their protection, despite the fact that the worst thing he’d ever done was accidentally kick a ball into another kid’s stomach when he was eight.

Byeongkwan huffed dramatically, “Of course not! We’re still all as human as cat or dog hybrids, and just as in control of our actions! The research on “feral” hybrids and “animal instincts” is outdated and was conducted by biased sources.”

“It was also done on a small sample size,” the taller one, Jun, added. He had a bit of a lisp on his ’s’s, and Donghun caught his tongue darting out quickly. 

“See? Totally unreliable,” Byeongkwan nodded.

Donghun blinked. “So… what do you guys do?”

“I’m glad you asked!” the shorter said, setting his sign to the side. Donghun braced himself for the sales pitch as the mantis shrimp hybrid pulled out a tablet from the bag Donghun hadn’t noticed was sitting next to the other. “We educate people on unconventional hybrid species, volunteer at hybrid shelters, track legislation regarding hybrid rights, and also run our own shelters and scholarship programs for hybrids that age out of the traditional system, including providing lessons and training to help these hybrids find employment opportunities.” All the while Byeongkwan flipped through various pictures on his screen.

Donghun was surprised by how efficient and legitimate the whole thing looked. On the chance that this was a scam to get money, they went through a lot of effort to make it not look like one. “So are you guys a big organization then?”

“We actually were founded a couple of years ago,” Jun said as Byeongkwan continued to page through photos. “We only have three locations here, one adoption facility, one housing facility and our main headquarters. But we’ve been gaining a lot of attention and funding lately from hybrid rights group and the general public. There are a few more locations in other countries and overseas.”

“That’s… impressive.”

“Yeah!” Byeongkwan agreed, stowing his tablet back in the backpack at his feet. He reached into his pocket an pulled out a business card. “Here. In case you want to find out more. We’re always looking for volunteers at our facilities, or if you just want to donate there’s also a link for that.”

Donghun looked down at the card. It had an official logo and wasn’t written in comic sans, so that was at least a couple of points in their favor. “Thanks.”

“No problem!” Byeongkwan said, picking his sign back up. “It was nice to meet you…”

“Donghun,” he said, not quite sure why he was volunteering his name.

“Donghun,” the mantis shrimp hybrid said. “Really hope to see you around.” Donghun gave the duo one last nod as he started back into the flow of foot traffic.

 

* * *

 

 

He went about his nightly motions in a daze, picking up the sushi and heading back into his apartment. It was only when he was lying in bed that evening, blankly staring at his ceiling, that he truly processed the opportunity that had been opened to him.

_Advocates for Unconventional Hybrids_

Where had that been when he had needed it growing up?

Donghun rolled onto his side. Maybe it was all a scam, too good to be true. But maybe, just maybe, there was hope for hybrids like him. He felt his heartbeat pick up in his chest. His tongue poked around his mouth until he found a loose tooth. He pulled it out, trying not to grimace at the feeling of his gums shifting and a new sharp tooth popping into the place of the old one. He’d have to file it down in the morning.

He stared hard at the shiny white tooth in his palm.

_Make a wish._

He closed his eyes and then dropped the tooth in the jar on his nightstand. Maybe this time it would come true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is probably not the hybrid AU you're used to, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless! 
> 
> Feel free to leave any guesses you have for what hybrids the other members are!


	2. Dangerous

_Donghun, age six, was playing in the local park not too far from Open Hearts Adoption Home. Mrs. Jung was a little ways off setting up a picnic table for lunch. She had brought Donghun and five other kids to play outside, but Donghun had always been more solitary so he was currently alone on the swings as he watched the other kids play some imaginary game on the other side of the playground._

_“Hey!” a young girl took a seat on the swings next to Donghun, startling him. No one had come up to him after the word of his hybridity had gotten out at school, but she apparently either went to a different one or at least hadn’t heard about him yet._

_“Hi…” he replied hesitantly, wondering if she’ d do what the other kids did and call him weird or scary. Or dangerous._

_“Wanna see who can swing higher?” she asked, already starting to pump her legs back and forth._

_He blinked before giving her a small smile. “Sure!” he followed her lead, both of them going higher and higher. They raced to the highest point they could go, Donghun’s stomach swooping with every backward swing and causing him to involuntarily break out into laughter. He laughed until he ran out of breath and eventually got too tired to keep his legs moving. The girl didn’t last much longer, both of them slowly winding down as they caught their breath._

_“I won!” the little girl declared triumphantly as her shoes skidded across the ground, sending up scraps of mulch, in an attempt to stop her momentum. Donghun did the same until they were both paused at the bottom._

_“Only this time!” he said, sticking out his tongue. She gasped, and Donghun realized the mistake he’d made. In opening his mouth wide enough, she’d been able to see the rows of jagged, pointy teeth that lined his mouth. Donghun clamped his mouth shut and braced himself for the insults or worse, for her to cringe and run away screaming._

_Only that didn’t happen._

_“Cool!” she said, leaning her swing toward him to get a better look. “Open your mouth again!” After searching her face for any sign that she was joking and finding nothing, Donghun hesitantly obeyed. “Are you like a monster or something?” The way she said ‘monster’ was different from how he’d heard it before. Most kids hurled it like an insult, but this girl said it like it was one of the highest honors._

_“I’m a shark hybrid,” Donghun said._

_Her mouth opened into an ‘o’. “That’s awesome!”  A warm feeling started to grow in Donghun’s chest._

_“Really?”_

_“Yeah!” she nodded vigorously, “I’ve never met one before! How strong can you bite? I watched a show about sharks, and it said they had really strong mouths!”_

_Donghun thought for a moment. “I can bite through a watermelon.” The girl became even more excited at that and looked ready to ask more questions, when suddenly a woman walked up to the pair. She had the girl’s straight, dark hair and round cheeks. Donghun instantly made the connection that she was the girl’s mother._

_“Young lady, what did I say about running off without telling me?” the woman addressed the girl._

_“I’m sorry,” the girl replied, looking to where her shoes were dangling just above the ground._

_Her mother sighed. “We need to go eat lunch.”_

_“But I just made a friend!” The girl protested. It was then that the woman noticed Donghun._

_“Oh, are you…” she trailed off, immediately zeroing in on the red triangle sticker on Donghun’s shirt. Her eyes widened and Donghun felt that one bright feeling in his chest being abruptly snuffed out._

_“Come here,” the woman ordered her daughter forcefully. The girl looked confused by her mother’s sudden change in tone._

_“Why-?”_

_“Now.” The little girl jumped off the swing hastily to stand next to her mother, who grabbed her hand. The woman gave Donghun one last nervous look, before pulling her daughter along behind her._

_The girl looked bewildered, but waved to Donghun as they left. “See you later!” They left Donghun on the swings, dragging his feet through the mulch as he accepted that he was alone again._

_In the following weeks, Donghun returned to the park as often as he could, but he could never find the little girl from the swings again. He eventually gave up._

 

* * *

 

The business card sat on his nightstand next to his jar for a full three days before Donghun finally broke down. He probably should have tossed it immediately, there was a high chance of it being some kind of scam to waste his time at best or steal his credit card information at worst. Wait, he revised that last statement, the actual worst case scenario was that they were Soundcloud rappers.

Despite his hesitations, he found himself eventually picking up the card and setting it down on his desk as he pulled up Google on his laptop. Donghun decided to play it safe first by looking up the organization on the search engine and then making sure the link matched the one on the business card (and also verifying that there were no news reports or social media posts that the organization was a scam). In the related links, the other search results were mostly news articles about the organization and their volunteer service or recent new buildings. As far as Donghun could tell, the place was completely legitimate.

Finally, he mustered up his courage to click on the link to the Advocates for Unconventional Hybrids website, half ready to run a malware scan as soon as it was pulled up. To his surprise the page that came up neither assaulted him with pop up ads, nor did it look poorly designed. Clearly the organization had hired a graphic designer with some understanding of color palettes and user experience awareness as the website was easy enough to navigate.

The homepage avoided the typical hybrid shelter or charity cliches of having stock photos of smiling hybrids, and instead featured portraits of hybrids that Donghun assumed were waiting to be adopted in an automatically rotating slideshow. Below that was a calendar of events for the organization including volunteer opportunities, awareness rallies, and shelter open houses. At the very bottom of the website was a button to set up monthly donations and subscribe to the organizations’ newsletter.

Donghun navigated his cursor to the menu at the top and selected the “About Us” tab. He was taken to a new page that featured a group photo of humans and hybrids in matching shirts working on building something. Donghun recognized the mantis shrimp hybrid from the subway in the background of the photo, waving at the camera while smiling widely. He then looked to the description.

_Advocates for Unconventional Hybrids_ _was established by siblings Lee Chanhyuk and Lee Suhyun. The organization is dedicated to helping those with unusual hybridities who are so commonly neglected by the general public. Our goal is to ensure that all hybrids have the resources they need to succeed and the support to be proud of who they are. Here we believe that all differences should be celebrated. Please consider joining us for one of our events at our locations below:_

Donghun looked through the conveniently provided map on the screen to see the array of locations near him, and found the three establishments that he recalled Byeongkwan mentioning before. One of them, the main headquarters, was only a fifteen minute walk from his apartment, with the other two only being a little further than that. It dawned on Donghun that if was truly interested in this, it wouldn’t be hard for him to get involved.

He leaned back in his chair and let out a long breath. Was it worth it to get involved in this? Sure, Donghun could probably just donate to the organization, and he was certain that would still be appreciated and useful, but part of him wanted to do something more. He looked around his bare apartment where he had hardly allowed himself any more decoration than the necessities. 

It reminded him of his room in Open Hearts. Mrs. Jung had never forbid any of the hybrids from decorating their rooms, but many didn’t as they feared they would be jinxing themselves into never being adopted if they settled in too much. Looking back on it, Donghun probably should have decorated his room instead of holding out hope that someone out there would want a hybrid like him. 

That habit had carried over into his interior design now. Bare cream colored walls, and hardly anything on his dresser or night stand aside from the wish jar. Even his desk only had a lamp, his laptop, and a picture of him and Mrs. Jung in front of Open Hearts. Though he had been indifferent to his lack of decor in the past, in this moment he found it to be truly depressing. Like the walls were swallowing all his passion in general, leaving nothing but blank thoughts and emotionless routines in their wake.

Donghun frowned and made a decision.

He sat back up in his chair and clicked back to the homepage. He scrolled until he reached the calendar of events at the bottom and, after glancing at his work calendar, clicked on the volunteer option for the organization’s adoption center that coming weekend. The form he had to fill out was brief, only asking for his name, e-mail, and phone number before sending him a confirmation e-mail to remind him of his time slot.

That night when Donghun went to bed he was practically vibrating with both nerves and excitement for finally doing something that would break up the monotony of his life.

 

* * *

 

Donghun had stewed in his own anxieties as the date to visit the adoption facility crept closer and closer. He knew it was a silly thing to get worked up over, but he was worried about messing up. He comforted himself by trying to recall all the work he’d done around Open Hearts in his teenage years and figured working for the new adoption facility couldn’t be much more difficult.

Despite him repeating this in his head like a mantra, he was still jittery at work that Friday, having trouble focusing on the e-mail in front of him as he kept glancing at the clock in the top of his screen. He nearly jumped out of his chair when someone’s face appeared over his cubicle.

“Everything okay?” Inseong asked as he raised an eyebrow, a smile threatening to overtake his face. The taller man had been working at the company for only six months longer than Donghun, but acted like he was Donghun’s mentor (though Donghun was pretty sure that most of Inseong’s time at the company was spent watching cat videos and harassing the other employees into buying him lunch). 

“Yeah. Yes. Why?” Donghun said, because that wasn’t suspicious at all.

Inseong looked amused. “Because you look more ready to go home than Yoongi, and no one is ever more ready to go home than Yoongi.” Said man was their manager and most of those in the office were pretty sure that the man just slept in his private office whenever he wasn’t in a meeting. Rumor had it that he even had a mat and pillow under his desk, though all of them were too afraid of Yoongi to try and investigate.

“I just have plans this weekend,” Donghun said, wondering how much he could give away. He was pretty sure that they wouldn’t fire him if the company learned about his hybridity, but he wasn’t risking it, especially since he was on the “Dangerous” list.

Unfortunately, his brush off had the exact opposite effect on Inseong. “Ooh! Anything fun I should know about?”

“If he has any common sense, he won’t tell you,” Donghun’s cubicle mate, a man named Hangyeom, said. Donghun nodded his thanks.

Inseong made a face, “Aw, come on!”

“It’s really nothing special,” Donghun said.

“I don’t believe that.”

Donghun sighed, realizing Inseong had no intention of leaving unless he got some kind of information. “It’s volunteering for a local hybrid adoption facility.”

Inseong blinked. “Oh? Which one?” Even Hangyeom looked interested in the answer.

“It’s called Advocates for Unconventional Hybrids,” Donghun said.

“I think I’ve heard of that,” Hangyeom said, “They’re not too far from here. Pretty new too.”

“My friend’s little sister volunteered there once,” Inseong added, nodding, “I think it was for school or something.”

“Do you know what it’s like?” Donghun asked, eager to possibly get some more information on what he was walking into.

Inseong grimaced, but shook his head. “No, sorry. Haven’t been there myself, and didn’t hear much more about it.”

“It sounds like a good place though,” Hangyeom said, “They were in the news for all the work they do at shelters across the country. And their training courses for hybrids are apparently really advanced.”

Donghun felt a little better after that. “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

“I wonder what it’s like working with all those weird hybrids though,” Inseong said. “I hear that place even takes in the ones that are labeled dangerous.” Donghun felt his stomach clench.

“Yeah,” Donghun muttered, “I wonder.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> I'll have more of the other A.C.E members in the next chapter, I swear!


	3. Shiver

_Donghun, age nine, was watching one of his friends be adopted. Though Mrs. Jung didn’t like when the other kids stared into her office while she was in a meeting, Donghun and his friends just couldn’t help it. It wasn’t often that the opportunity to witness an adoption presented itself, and in the past Donghun had usually opted to stay in his room, but because he was so close to the other boy he couldn’t stop his curiosity._

_Kyuhyuk had been in Donghun’s close knit group of friends for a little over a year, and it had gotten to the point where Donghun was used to seeing and relying on the other boy. Though they all knew that adoption was a possibility, it was rare for a child as old as they were to be adopted from the home. Now, however, Donghun along with Rowoon, Hyojin, and MingMing were all shoving each other as they tried to sneak a peek into the room. The actual proceedings looked pretty boring, Mrs. Jung on one side of the desk and Kyukyuk’s soon to be parents on the other, while they steadily went through and signed a seemingly never ending pile of documents. Kyuhyuk was sitting in a chair off to the side, swinging his legs back and forth nervously while his long white tail swayed to the same tempo. Though there were clearly a bit of nerves, evident in how the boy’s ears kept twitching, Kyuhyuk hadn’t stopped smiling throughout the whole thing. Despite being happy for his friend, Donghun found a roiling pit of jealousy opening up in his stomach._

_“Do you think they’re nice?” Hyojin whispered. The other boy eyed the family that would be taking Kyuhyuk home warily._

_Donghun shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never met them. They look nice.” And they did. The couple smiled widely every time their eyes landed on Kyuhyuk, like he was something amazing and precious. Donghun wondered if he’d ever meet a family that looked at him like that._

_“Well, he was the most likely to get adopted out of all of us,” Rowoon said, “Y’know. Since he’s a cat hybrid and all.”_

_“I’m a cat hybrid,” MingMing grumbled._

_“Yeah, but you’re a tiger,” Rowoon argued._

_Donghun paused, looking at the others. At that moment, it finally hit him that he might never actually be adopted. Who would want a huge sea predator hybrid in their house after all? What would happen to him when his time at the orphanage ran out? Would he be able to do all the things he saw on television or read about in books, or was that only for normal people and normal hybrids? Did he have any hope of being happy in the future?_

_For the first time in his life, Donghun was scared of growing up._

 

* * *

 

The adoption home that Advocates for Unusual Hybrids ran was called the Welcome House. It was a large white two-story building with a number of windows and a wide, dark blue double door. From the outside one could see there was a glass dome on top, presumably to let in more sunlight. Donghun was a little intimidated when he first approached it, his own adoption home having been significantly smaller. He pushed the front door open hesitantly, wondering if he had the right address despite triple checking the e-mail on his phone.

The inside was just as spacious with a large front reception area. The room was filled with long, comfortable looking sofas and armchairs along the walls, a number of fake house plants, and a reception counter toward the back, along with a few doors that Donghun assumed led into the actual facility. All of the doors had black sensors to the right of the door handle and presumably required security card clearance to open.

Donghun approached the reception desk, where a lone person sat tapping away at a computer. The receptionist looked up when Donghun got closer, and the shark hybrid was initially stunned by the other’s eyes. At first he’d thought the receptionist might be wearing some kind of weird reflective glasses, but as he looked closer he could see that the other’s eyes were actually more bug-like in nature and reflected light in all directions like a million tiny screens. The receptionist was clearly an insect hybrid of some kind, but Donghun couldn’t tell what species he was at a glance, and it was probably rude to ask.

“Can I help you?” The insect hybrid said. His antennae twitched in Donghun’s direction.

“Uh,” Donghun said, not quite sure where to look. Eventually he managed to find the words he needed. “I signed up to volunteer today. At eleven. My name’s Lee Donghun.”

The receptionist hummed. “Okay. Can I see a photo ID please?” Donghun dug in his pockets for his wallet before handing his ID card over. “Thanks.”

“Uh-huh,” Donghun said, trying very hard not to stare at the other’s antennae, which was whipping around wildly as the man’s hands flew over the keyboard. He was probably not very successful as the insect hybrid looked mildly amused when he returned Donghun’s card.

There was a second as a small printer next to the computer beeped before churning out a sticker. The man ripped it off and handed it to Donghun as well. “Here’s your visitor pass. Please wear it where it can be easily seen.” The sticker had the word ‘Visitor’ in bold black font with Donghun’s name under it, slightly smaller, along with a thin barcode at the bottom.

“Thank you,” Donghun said, sticking on his shirt right above his heart. The hybrid then pointed to one of the doors on the far right side of the room.

“Your group will be gathering in there. Just scan your tag at the door and it should let you in. Let me know if you have any problems with that. Your team leader is Kim Byeongkwan.”

Donghun perked up at that. “I’ve met him before.”

The other laughed. “Probably from one of his street campaigns, right?” Donghun nodded. “I thought so. He loves getting out and talking to people. Is this your first time here?”

“Yeah.”

“Ah, well you lucked out then. You’ll be working with the kids today, and those are always the best days,” the receptionist said.

“Right. Thanks again, uh…” Donghun trailed off, realizing he’d never gotten the other’s name.

“Jooheon,” the insect hybrid offered. “I also sometimes go by ‘Honey’ or ‘That Bee Hybrid’” he said, grinning as his eyes seemed to glitter even more than before. 

“Oh, I’m a…” Donghun paused, the words ‘shark hybrid’ getting stuck in his throat. Despite the fact that this place gave every indication of being more accepting of who he was than nearly any other place he’d been to aside from Open Hearts, admitting to his own hybridity always brought up bad memories.

Jooheon thankfully picked up on this and held up a hand. “Hey, you don’t have to say if you don’t want to. Plenty of people aren’t comfortable with being open about their own hybridity, and that’s fine. You can go at your own pace with these things.”

Donghun scratched the back of his neck. “Thanks.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Jooheon waved him off, “Just have a good time.”

 

* * *

 

The door Jooheon had pointed him toward opened up into another large room. This one appeared to be a play area for younger toddlers, though none were in the room at the moment. There was a small plastic play set with a slide no higher than Donghun’s hip, buckets full of plastic blocks, and simple wooden puzzles and toys. In the far corner was a blue bin full of plastic, foam, and rubber balls and a red bin stuffed to the brim with plush animals. However, Donghun also saw toys that he didn’t normally encounter, such as specially designed chew toys like the ones he’d gotten for his second birthday, heat lamps in the corner near the book shelves, a short climbing wall and ledge presumably for those with tree dwelling hybridities, and even an overhead loft area screwed into the ceiling with stairs leading up to it and a large take off area for teaching young bird hybrids to fly.

Growing up, Donghun had seen some of these kinds of things at his own adoption facility, but it was usually hard for Mrs. Jung to afford the specialized equipment for unconventional hybrids due to the high prices. Often times she would have to rely either on donations or equipment sales to secure these kinds of things, which led to her religiously tracking companies on social media to see when items may soon go on sale or out of stock.

“Donghun!” a voice called, snapping Donghun out of his memories. He looked over to see Kim Byeongkwan running up to him. Now, he realized, the mantis shrimp hybrid was actually shorter than he remembered, though his shell was just as colorful as he recalled. “It’s Donghun, right?”

“Yes,” Donghun confirmed. He tapped his nametag. “Lee Donghun.”

Byeongkwan grinned. “I’m glad you actually came! We have a pretty good sized group today, so let me introduce you to the rest of who you’ll be working with.” He turned around and gestured for Donghun to follow over to where three other people were waiting. As he trailed after Byeongkwan, Donghun’s eyes latched on the red triangle sticker once again stuck to the hybrid’s shell. He’d debated wearing his own warning stickers to the volunteer event, but eventually chickened out and left the sheet buried in his drawer.

They reached the group, and Donghun’s eyes immediately went to the reptile hybrid he recalled seeing with Byeongkwan near the subway. Apparently the other recognized him too, because he grinned in Donghun’s direction. He was no longer wearing all the bulky clothing from before, and now Donghun could see even more sandy colored scales on the other’s neck, and arms.

“Park Junhee,” the man said, extending a hand. Donghun shook it, absently noticing the other’s long curved claws at the end of his fingertips. “But I like to go by Jun.”

“And this is Kim Sehyoon, and Kang Yuchan,” Byeongkwan said, gesturing to the other two.

Kim Sehyoon was wearing nearly as much clothing as Jun had been when Donghun had first seen him, the only visible skin being on his face, neck and hands. There were patches of a vibrant green with a black pattern on the backs of his hands and his neck, along with some areas around his eyes. A red triangle sticker was also stuck to Sehyoon’s jacket, right next to his visitor name tag.

Kang Yuchan was dressed much more reasonably for the fairly warm inside temperature, with just a short sleeve shirt and jeans. However, he wore a black beanie over most of his hair, and a black face mask that covered his nose and mouth and had thin elastic straps that hooked over his ears.

“I go by Chan,” Yuchan said, shaking Donghun’s hand as well. His voice came out slightly muffled from behind the mask.

Sehyoon gave Donghun a wry smile. “I’d offer to shake your hand too, but that wouldn’t be a good idea in my case.”

“Sehyoon’s a poison frog hybrid,” Byeongkwan said, clapping the other on his safely covered shoulder. Sehyoon nodded, pulling some heavy work gloves out of his pocket and covering his hands before offering one to Donghun.

“It shouldn’t be a problem,” Sehyoon said, “I’m pretty careful about it, but if you do ever come in contact with my bare skin, let me know. You should be fine though as long as it doesn’t get in your mouth and you wash whatever part it was.”

Donghun nodded, momentarily stunned to meet someone who seemed to have an even more difficult hybridity than his own. “Nice to meet you both.”

“Well!” Byeongkwan said, clapping his hands together, “Now that everyone’s here and introductions are over, who’s ready to play with the kids?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jooheon: I swear, I'm gonna sting the next person who quotes the Bee Movie to me  
> Changkyun: Wouldn't that kill you?  
> Jooheon: You think I care at this point
> 
> Is this entire fic an excuse to watch nature documentaries? Possibly.
> 
> This chapter is named Shiver because apparently that's what a group of sharks are called.


	4. Caught

_Donghun, age eleven, was slouching in his seat and trying to disappear entirely from view. He hated middle school. He hated his classes. And, above everything, he hated his classmates and how they all whispered about him when they thought he wasn’t listening._

_He wasn’t a popular kid by any stretch. He wasn’t even lucky enough to be left alone. Instead, he was the one that people sneered at or worse, pitied. Donghun didn’t really have any friends amongst his classmates, and all of his friends from back at Open Hearts were in different grades so he rarely encountered them at school._

_All of the television shows and movies he watched seemed to agree that middle school sucked and he’d find his stride when he hit high school. Donghun wasn’t quite sure what made high school so different from middle school, but he felt like he couldn’t wait long enough to find out. He’d even debated asking Ms. Jung to homeschool him or something, but he knew that she definitely didn’t have the spare time or resources to devote to that._

_The teacher at the front of the classroom droned on and on about something… maybe atoms? Donghun wasn’t quite sure as she didn’t seem to be too enthusiastic about the topic herself. He went back to ignoring her and doodling on his planner. It was actually turning out pretty nice for once when-_

_“…will be a group project,” his teacher said. Donghun’s head snapped up, suddenly utterly focused on her words. “Due at the end of the month. I’ll be pairing you all up.” There were some groans around the classroom from kids who had hoped to pick their friends._

_His teacher began to run down a list she had with pairs of students, Donghun’s grip on his pencil tightening with every name. It seemed like years before she announced his own. “Lee Donghun and Park Seungjun.”_

_Donghun tried not to groan out loud. To be fair, there was really nothing wrong with Park Seungjun. The other boy was popular, tall, nice enough, and funny. He was also in the choir and regularly got a number of solos. Essentially the opposite of the image Donghun had managed to cultivate throughout his middle school career. At the moment their names were announced, Seungjun turned in his seat three rows up to give Donghun a wave. Donghun nodded in acknowledgement, nausea growing in his stomach. Just getting paired with Seungjun wasn’t a problem, but…_

_“Ugh, that’s not fair!” a girl whispered to his right, either thinking Donghun wouldn’t hear her or not caring if he did. “I should’ve gotten Seungjun!”_

_Her friend laughed. “It’s probably better for Seungjun’s grades that you didn’t. But yeah, Seungjun shouldn’t have gotten paired with him.”_

_Donghun watched one of Seungjun’s friends lean over to mutter, “Sucks, bro.”_

_“He’s not that bad,” Seungjun said._

_“Nah, he’s a weirdo. I hear that he spits out a tooth every hour on the hour. Better study somewhere easy to clean up.”_

_Donghun bristled. It wasn’t EVERY hour, it was maybe once a day. And that was only if he was stressed. Usually it was more like he lost a tooth every few days, and it wasn’t like there was much blood if any. Under the weight of all the whispers, Donghun kept his head down over his planner, not even bothering to finish his drawing and begging for the bell to ring. When it finally did he had all of his notebooks packed up in an instant, intent on hurrying out the door, only to find his path blocked by his new project partner._

_“Hey,” Seungjun said, stopping him in the hall. “Can I get your number? For the project, I mean?”_

_Donghun blinked. “Yeah, sure.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket, mildly embarrassed by how old a model it was. Ms. Jung couldn’t afford anything more expensive though, especially since she needed one for all of the kids in the center old enough to be in school. It was a very basic flip phone and didn’t even have a texting keyboard, only the numbers. Donghun was really sick of pushing the “7” key four times whenever he wanted an “S”._

_“Oh wow, man,” Seungjun said, eyeing Donghun’s phone, “I used to have one of those.” Seungjun’s own phone was a relatively recent model._

_Donghun felt himself flush. “Yeah,” he said shortly. They exchanged numbers, and Seungjun waved him off with a smile. Donghun felt a bit bad about how much he resented the other boy in that moment. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the two girls who had been whispering earlier glaring at him, so he hunched in on himself and hurried out the door to his next class. He wished that the project would be over quickly and painlessly, but doubted it as he was rarely so fortunate. Middle school was the worst._

 

* * *

 

It turned out that none of them were ready to play with the kids yet. The volunteers all started their time by sanitizing every available surface and sweeping up. Byeongkwan mentioned that they would have to repeat the process when the kids left, as a good amount of the toys and tables ended up sticky somehow. Donghun, who had grown up in an adoption home with plenty of children, believed that stickiness was just a side effect of being a kid and not necessarily part of any active hybridity.

After a good half hour of cleaning later, the room was as clean as it would get and smelling of Lysol. Donghun noticed Jun dragging some heavy looking equipment out from one of the closets and went over to help him. As he got closer he noticed it was a large heating lamp, much more sizable than the smaller ones in the reading corner. Donghun had never seen a lamp like the one Jun was carrying, its form shaped like an umbrella with a thinner stand and sturdy base.

“Thanks,” Jun grunted as Donghun grabbed the other side of the lamp. Jun tilted his head toward one of the other corners where a number of low mattress pads were laying on the ground, and they both began moving in that direction. Chan was already pushing some of the mattresses around to clear them a path to the center of the area.

Donghun struggled a bit under the weight, but they just managed it with their combined strength. They set down the lamp with a heavy thump, and when Donghun straightened up he could practically hear his back cracking. “Never seen one this big,” he remarked, staring up at the lamp. Now that he was able to look, the umbrella portion stretched over all of the mattresses, but a black glassy material covered the inside.

“It’s a newer model,” Jun said, picking up the cord and plugging it into a nearby outlet, “A heat lamp without the light part. Perfect for reptile hybrids that want to take a nap under a heat lamp. Or anyone, I guess.”

Byeongkwan walked over, his arms full of blankets and pillows. “Alright guys,” he said, dropping the stack on the ground next to one of the mattresses, “We’re just about ready.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Sehyoon?”

Said poison frog hybrid waved from where he was setting up a table with art supplies. “What’s up?”

“Release the kids!”

 

* * *

 

It was comforting to Donghun that no matter where he went, kids were still kids. And by that he meant they were _LOUD_.

“It’s my turn on the runway!” a pouting boy with messy brown hair was whining from over Donghun’s head.

The boy’s friend crossed his arms, “Nuh-uh! You just went!”

Donghun had been stationed at the flight training section not long after the doors had opened and a wave of kids had flooded into the room. There had to be around fifty or sixty of them, and the volunteers were quickly overwhelmed. The kids had obviously recognized the other four as familiar faces, and Donghun had been treated to the sight of four grown men with a number of small children clinging and climbing them like playsets.

“You promised we’d play today!” a small girl no older than seven whined, latching onto Byeongkwan’s arm. “You promised!” A chorus of voices agreed with her.

“GET THE LIZARD!,” one of the boys yelled, crashing into Jun’s legs. Donghun could see the boy was covered in long spikes on his back, though all of the ends were wrapped in foam.

“No, don’t get the lizard!” Jun protested, to no avail. He too was soon swarmed by children.

“Chan, can you teach me how to breathe underwater?”

Said volunteer only shook his head apologetically. “Sorry, I was just born with this ability,” he said, voice muffled by his face mask. His eyes crinkled up as he patted the crestfallen kid on the shoulder. Donghun tried not to perk up at the indication that there might be another sea creature hybrid and restrained himself from blurting out any questions. He could ask Chan later. Chan took the boy’s hand, not noticing Donghun’s eyes on him. “Why don’t we go play a board game with your friends?”

When Donghun looked for Sehyoon, the other man was already at the art table. He was apparently very popular there as all of the kids were rushing to show him their own drawings. He complimented each of them in turn and then gave suggestions on how to improve.

Donghun had been at a loss. None of the kids initially approached him, though that was understandable since he was new. He had stood awkwardly in the corner for a few minutes before he felt someone tug on the hem of his shirt. He turned to find a young boy around eight or so standing there.

“Hello,” he said hesitantly, “Uh, do you need help with something?”

The boy nodded furiously. “Can you catch for us?”

‘ _Catch?_ ’ Donghun wondered. “Sure,” he agreed out loud, “But what game are you playing? And what’s your name?”

The boy giggled. “It’s not a game! I’m Jongho!”

And that was how Donghun found himself where he currently was thirty minutes later, standing under the loft bolted to the ceiling and prepared to catch children as they jumped from the runway. Sure there were also plenty of cushions under the structure, but apparently the kids loved if someone was there as well. 

Donghun had no idea what he was doing. He’d never helped out flying hybrids before, most of his time in Open Hearts being spent giving swimming lessons if anything, but he was fairly strong. At least, he was strong enough to catch a child. That said, the kids tended to be pretty squirmy and he’d almost dropped one more than he’d like to admit. Also he’d been on the receiving end of quite a few fledgling wings to the face.

“Yuh-huh!” the brown haired boy he’d met first was saying, stomping his foot on the loft.

“Hey!” Donghun called up, “Be careful, Jongho! Do I need to get Byeongkwan?”

“Noooooo,” the boy replied, his brown and gold wings drooping slightly.

“Then let Mingi go next!” Donghun said. The boy with white and gray wings grinned at his friend. He walked over to the runway and Donghun raised his arms, preemptively bracing himself. 

“Here I go!” The boy ran to the end of the take off strip and jumped, small wings spreading wide. As soon as his feet left the platform, Jongho hit a button near the stairs to the loft which started a large digital clock on the side of the platform. Mingi flapped his wings wildly, managing to hover in place for just a few seconds, before his wings’ pace stuttered and he dropped, landing in Donghun’s arms with a _whump!_

As soon as Donghun let him down, the boy raced over to see what the read out on the clock was. He punched the air in victory. “Hah! Six seconds! I win!” Jongho pouted, the boy having only managed to stay in the air for five seconds previously.

“Best two out of three!” Jongho yelled as Mingi climbed the stairs back to the loft. “Loser has to give up half their snack!”

“You’re on!”

As the two continued to negotiate the terms of their competition, Donghun took a moment to breathe. He glanced around the room and saw Byeongkwan was giving one of the girls who had large, orange butterfly wings a ride on his shoulders and making roaring noises as he stomped exaggeratedly around a city built out of blocks. Every time he knocked over a tower, the kids would scramble to rebuild it and laughed as Byeongkwan knocked it over again. Apparently they were playing Godzilla or something.

Jun was in the reading corner, holding a book up as he read a story to a circle of kids seated around him. Apparently the kids loved his reactions as they all giggled at the excited voices he gave the characters and the weird expressions he would make. They especially liked when all the frills around his neck would suddenly flare out dramatically. At certain parts he would have some of the kids come up to read the sentences and practice their pronunciation, giving them a thumbs up and a grin whenever they finished.

Chan was preparing the day’s snack, lining up paper cups in neat rows before going down the line and dropping an assortment of fruits, nuts and sweets into each one. At one point a young girl came up to him and asked a question that Donghun couldn’t hear. Chan put down the bag of M&M’s he was holding to gesture widely with his explanation. The girl laughed and ran back to her friends.

Sehyoon was still at the art table, apparently monitoring all the kids who were now finger painting. The poison frog hybrid’s own drawing was some abstract design of curves and swirls, but he helped one of the kids with their own picture of what Donghun assumed was the adoption center. Sehyoon was pointing at the bright colors on the kid’s painting and smiling.

“Okay!” Jongho said, snapping Donghun’s attention back to the two boys above him. They both grinned down. 

“We’ve decided that the loser has to do ten pushups!” Mingi said, before taking his spot at the end of the runway.

Donghun raised his arms to catch him. “Go for it!” he called. Mingi nodded and ran out to the end of the runway, jumping into the air with his wings already flapping. Donghun grinned at the look of concentration on the kid’s face as he struggled to stay up in the air.

“Don’t sneeze!” Jongho yelled, trying to throw his friend off. Mingi laughed and lost focus, tumbling down. Donghun caught him.

 

* * *

 

“So,” Byeongkwan said, drawing out the word. They were seated next to each other at the table at snack time. All of the kids were wolfing down the provided snacks as Chan and Jun walked around and tried to prevent them from making a mess, with limited success.

“So?” Donghun replied raising an eyebrow.

“Are you having fun?” Byeongkwan asked.

Donghun thought back to the time he’d spent playing with Jongho and Mingi and how, after they’d gotten tired of jumping off the loft, they’d introduced him to their small group of friends who had been focused on building the tallest tower possible for Byeongkwan to knock over. Their friends had welcomed Donghun on sight, realizing that he could make their tower even taller. 

The kids had all screamed and laughed when Byeongkwan had smashed through it yelling, “I AM SHRIMPZILLA!!” They’d then told Donghun that he needed to do battle with Shrimpzilla while they armed themselves. Donghun had shrugged and thrown Byeongkwan over his shoulder like a sack of flour, the other screaming all the while, before spinning around and making them both very dizzy.

“NO!” Byeongkwan yelled, “YOU CAN’T TREAT SHRIMPZILLA LIKE THIS!!” The kids had also screamed back and began hitting the mantis shrimp hybrid with foam blocks. When he finally placed Byeongkwan back on the ground, the other had pretended to die a very dramatic death while the children continued to beat him with the blocks. They only moved on once Byeongkwan had stopped moving, then going back to rebuild the tower all over again.

Back in the present, Donghun grinned at the memory. “Yeah. Yeah, I am.”

Byeongkwan beamed. “I’m glad! Do you think you’ll come back?”

Donghun caught Jongho waving him over and gesturing to an empty seat next to him, clearly inviting Donghun to sit in on his and his friends’ conversation. He felt something warm start in his chest. “I think I will,” he told Byeongkwan before getting up and moving to the empty seat.

 

* * *

 

Donghun walked home later that night, feeling light for the first time in quite a while. He’d enjoyed playing with all of the kids. Jongho had made Donghun promise that he’d come back again to referee the competition between Jongho and Mingi, and Hongjoong had said that Donghun built the best towers (apparently Jun often knocked over the towers himself by accident). That warm feeling had stayed curled up in his chest for the rest of the night.

As he turned a corner, the realization sank in that he was returning to his sparsely decorated room with its empty walls and bland furnishings. He slowed as he came to an intersection. Then, in a spur of the moment decision, he walked into a nearby flower shop with half an idea in mind.

“Hello,” the lady at the counter said as he entered. “Looking for something in particular?”

Donghun paused. “Do you have any plants that are easy to take care of?”

“Well,” she said, “Succulents are pretty popular for being low maintenance. They just need sunlight really, hardly any water.” She pointed to a row of tiny pots along one window. “Our selection is over there.”

“Thanks,” Donghun said with a nod, walking over to the plants. There was a larger variety than he expected. Some looked more like traditional cacti while others had thick leaves and even some flowers. He pondered over the different shapes and sizes for a while before settling on a medium sized one with a flower like shape and pinkish leaves.

“Just this, please,” he said, setting it on the counter.

“Alright,” she said before reading off the price. Donghun handed over the money. “Be careful not to overwater it, and come back if you have any questions.” Donghun thanked her again and headed back out.

Once he reached his apartment, he immediately set his new plant in the window. He blinked at it, suddenly worried. He didn’t know anything about succulents. He opened his laptop and spent the next hour searching for tips on maintaining the plant’s health, all the while making notes on a spare piece of notebook paper.

When he thought he had enough information, he shut his laptop and turned to the newest addition to his room. He found himself smiling a bit. Sure, he still wasn’t really certain what he was doing, not with the plant nor with his recent volunteering experience, but he was excited to see what would happen next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From this point forward, Byeongkwan will be referred to exclusively as Shrimpzilla.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is probably not the hybrid AU you're used to, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless! 
> 
> Feel free to leave any guesses you have for what hybrids the other members are!


End file.
